SINGAPORE - Heads turn and people take a second look when they see her.

Gorgeous. Beautiful. Hot.

Tell them her age and eyebrows are raised.

She does not look her age, say all 30 people randomly approached.

She's 50.

I, too, am incredulous. So I ask Madam Betty Yu about her assets: Real?

Madam Yu laughs, then says: "You can feel."

She is fun. Full of confidence. Easy-going.

But her jovial demeanour belies a life of strife, of setbacks, of near-financial disaster, starting when her husband was paralysed in an accident, after which he suffered a stroke.

Her story is one to inspire mothers, ahead of Mother's Day next Sunday.

Madam Yu was recently crowned Classic Mrs Singapore Tourism 2012 and Classic Mrs Singapore 1st Runner-Up 2012.

Madam Yu's life - like her physical attributes - are real.

She's 1.65m tall and weighs 59kg. Her vital statistics are 38-28-38.

But first, she clarifies, she will turn 50 only next month.

And no, she's not a tai-tai who can afford to splurge on beauty treatments.

Life was good when she was running her own businesses, such as a souvenir advertising firm and two modelling schools.

Madam Yu recalls: "The businesses kept me so busy that I didn't have time to date and I missed the boat.

"My girlfriends were all married and had their little ones while I was left on the shelf.

"I found myself running an average of 100 runway shows a month. It was madness. I felt burned out. Totally drained. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn't cope with the booming business."

Another thought occurred to her: What's all the money in the world if you can't even enjoy it?

"It got to a point where I couldn't even sit down to enjoy a proper lunch."

That hectic lifestyle took a toll on her when she hit 35.

Read the full story here.